Gearing for washing-machines.



J. I. WOODRUFF. GEARING FOR WASHING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED SEPT.5,1912.

11 07 0 9, Patnted Oct. 21, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

a M J1. Maui/1f} M J. I. WOODRUFP.

GEARING FOR WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1912.

Patented Oct. 21, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' tywomzo J. I. WOODRUPP. GEARING FOR WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1912.

1,076,089 Patented Oct. 21, 1913.

s SHEETS-SHEET a.

JOHN r. woonn-urr, or snnmsenovn, PENNSYLVANIA.

Y GElA-R'ING- FOR WASHING-MACHINES.

Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented their. 21', 191-3.

Application filed September 5, 1 12. Serial No. 718,776;-

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN I. Woonnurr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Selinsgrove, in the county of Snyder and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certainnewand useful Improvements in Gearing for ashing-Machines, of which the following is. a. specification.

Myinvention relates to washing machines and particularly to machines of that typewherein a hollowpounder head reciprocates against the clothes to cause a suction therethrough.

The primary object of my invention is the provision of a very simple, easily operated and eifective washing machine of this type in which the mechanism is so arranged as to be easily cleaned and repaired and'wherein the pounders and the mechanism for driving the pounders are so mounted that the lid of the machine may be raised so as to give unobstructed access to the interior of the machine. g

A- further object is to provide means whereby the wringer may be operated by the same mechanismas operates thepoundersand in this connection to provide means whereby the gearing of the wringer may be thrown out of operative engagement with the driving mechanism when the lid is.

lowered so as to bring the pounders into action and thrown into operative engagement whenthe lid is raised.

A further object is to provide a mechanism, of: this type which may be operatedview thereof, the plungers being shown in.

elevation. Big. 3 1s atransverse section on the lin.33 ofFig. 2. Fig. 4:. is a plan view of the machine, Fig. 5"1s aside elevation on a reduced scale showing the-cover or lid of the washing-machine open.- Fig. ,6 is a,

detail sectional View. ofthe'cl'utch mechanism whereby the lower wringing roll is disengaged from operative connection withjthe driving mechanism when the lid is. closed.

Fig. 7 is a perspectivedetail view ofanot-her form of. clutch actuating mechanism;

Corresponding andlike parts are referredto in thefollowingdescription and indicated in all the views of-the accompanying drawings by the same reference characters.

The body of the washingmachine consists of an approximately.rectangular. tubor receptacle designated- 2 having wooden sides 3 and a sheet metal bottom i and .which is sup-. ported upon legs 5v connected to a. supporting;

frame 6.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the receptacle 2 is,

elongated. atone end asat 7:, this elongated portion being braced by crosspieces 8 and 59, the cross p1ece-9fQrming a partition separating the portioni' from the main body ofthe receptacle. The frame 10 crosses the top. of the receptacle and hingedly mounted; uponthis frame is a lid ll. Eormedupon= fthis lid isan upwardly extendingdome 12.

the top of which has a removable lid section 13 normally held in place, by.v meansof the buttonsl'.

Passing transversely throughthe dome 12' land supported in any suitable manner. 11 e :walls thereof is a shaft. 15, one end of which.

is upwardly extended as at 16 and adapted to be connected to adtachable handle 17.

The other end oflthe shaft projects through,

the side wall of the dome and connected to a, driving mechanism as Will be later stated.- Mounted upon the shaft 15. at the middle thereof is ;a' rocker arm 18 and. piv-v otallyconnected to. the ends of: 'e rocker arm are theposts: 19. The pound'ersEZO are hollow and the upper end. of eachpound'er is formed withfa Socket 21, surrounding the lower endofi-the postllj9 which is reduced for the purpose.

Passing transversely through the recepta-.

cle 2 near the upper. edge ofthe same and preferably mounted. the portion. 1g is, a, rod 22 andpivotally. mountedupon thi'srod' is a rocker arm whichcxtends parallel to the rocker. arm,1 8.an d which atits ends is;

pivoted to the sockets. 21 of, the pounders;

These two rocker armsbeing arranged paralleLrelation give parallel motion to the pounders and. cause the same to remain ver-.

tical when movingurnor d.

The shaft. 15. as shown inl h ig. 3f. extends out through onesideof'the dome 121and cars as at 37 and carries a sli ries upon it the downwardly extending drop arm 24. Mounted upon the lid is a shaft 25 which carries at its end a spur gear '26 adapted when the-lid is closed to mesh with a pinion 27 mounted upon a shaft 28. Mounted on the shaft 28 is a band wheel 29 over which passes a band 30 which extends downto a driving'pulley 31 mounted upon the shaft of a motor 32. A wrist pin 33 projects out from the spur gear wheel 26 and connected to this wrist pin and to the arm 24 of the rocker shaft 15 is a connecting rod 35. This rod is preferably slotted at its end ing block forming the wrist pin for the arm 24. Disposed within the slot on opposite sides of the sliding block are springs 36 which normally hold the block in the middle of the slot 37. The urpose of these springs 36 is to cushion the s iock or jar given to the machine by the pounders striking the clothes and thus eliminate as much as possible vibration which would tend to rack the mechanism, and also eliminate as much as possible the noise of the machine.

It will be plain that the machine may be operated either by connecting it with the motor 31 or may be operated by the lever 17. The lever 17 is preferably detachably connected to the upturned end of the shaft 15 in any suitable manner but I have shown for the purpose the lever 17 as formed with a socket within which the upturned end of the shaft is received, the socket being formed with a longitudinal slot through which project the stud bolts 38 provided with the wing nuts 39. It will be seen that this construction permits the handle 17 to be readily set upon the upturned end of the shaft 15 and clamped thereon or as readily removed, It will also be seen that when the lid 11 is raised the gear wheel 26 will be moved out of engagement with the pinion 27.

It will be noted that in my construction the pounders are. entirely housed and that the actuating mechanism therefore does not project through the upper portion of the dome mounted upon the lid but through the side of the dome and that the only part which projects through the side of the dome is the shaft. As a consequence of the pounders being entirely housed, the water within the tub will not be splashed outthrough any openings and furthermore the shaft 15 passing out through the side of the machine permits a relatively snug fit to be secured between the shaft and the bearing on which it is mounted so that no water .can pass out through the opening for the shaft. At the same time it leaves the upper portion of the dome entirely unobstructed so that the lid 13 may be raised permitting an inspection of the contents of the tub. When the lid is closed, therefore, the agitating mechanism and the clothes are entirely inclosed is brought into and neither steam nor water can escape while the clot-hes are being ag itated. It will, of course, be obvious that upon an oscillation of the rocker 18, the conical pounders' will be alternately reciprocated and that as the conical hollow pounders move downward they will force the water through the clothes but that as they move upward away from the clothes they will suck the water through the clothes so that a most effective washing and cleansing action will be secured.

It is most desirable to provide means whereby the wringer may be actuated by the same driving mechanism as is used for actuating the agitators and it is necessary, of course, to provide means whereby the wringer will not be driven while the clothes are being washed and whereby the agitating mechanism Wlll not be actuated while the wringing mechanism is being actuated or the lid opened. To this end I have provided a wringer designated 40 of any ordinary construction and provided with upper and lower wringer rollers mounted upon shafts 41 and42, these shafts carrying intermeshing gears 43. One of these shafts, preferably the lower shaft42, carries upon it a pulley 44 over which passes a band wheel 45 which in turn passes over a pulley 46 mounted upon the shaft 28. The shaft 42 as will be seen in Fig. 6 carries upon it a sleeve 47 upon which the pulley-44 is mounted or formed. This sleeve as illustrated in the embodiment shown in Fig. 6 is formed with a clutch face 48 at one end and is also formed with an annular shoulder or flange 49. Mounted upon the shaft 42 and rotating therewith is a clutch member 50 coacting with the clutch face 48. Uirging the sleeve 47 into engagement with the clutch member 50 is a spring 51 disposed between the pulley.44 and a head 52. It will thus be seen that the clutches will normally be in engagement with each other and that therefore the shaft 42 will be driven by the pulley 44. When the lid is lowere however, means is provided whereby the sleeve 47 shall be shifted so as to disengage the clutch faces 48 and 50, and as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 I have provided for this purpose a projecting arm 53 attached to the free edge of the lid 11, which arm carries upon it a wedge or cam 54. When the lid 11 is lowered to the position shown in Fig. 2, this wedge 54 wedging engagement with the shoulder 49 and forces the sleeve 47 laterally so as to disengage the clutch teeth 48 and the clutch member 50. Under these circumstances, of course the sleeve 47 rotates freely and the shaft 42 is not rotated. When, however, the lid is raised, the spring 51 forces the clutch members into engagement with each other and a rotation of the ever as it is obvious that a number of different forms of clutch actuating devices might be used for shifting the clutch members into or out of engagement with each other. In Fig. 7 I have shown the shaft 42 as being provided with the clutch member 55 and as having mounted upon it the sleeve 56 carrying the pulle 57 which is precisely the same as the pul ey 44 previously referred to and constituting the driving pulley. A spring 58 forces the sleeve toward the clutch member 55 and this sleeve carries upon it the clutch member 59. Pivotally mounted upon one wall of the receptacle is a shifting lever 60 having a yoke 61 at its inner end which engages in a collar 62 formed with the sleeve and the forward end of this lever'is upwardly bent and laterally curved as at 63. Mounted upon the free end of the lid is an arm 64 provided with a downwardly extending portion 65 whose face is alsolaterally curved in a reverse direction to the face 63 so that as the lid is lowered the curved faces of the portions 65 and 63 will engage with each other and the lever will be shifted laterally, thus shifting the sleeve 56 in a direction to carry the clutch members 55 and 59 out of engagement with each other, the spring 58 forcing the clutch members into engagement with each other when the lid is lifted.

The wringer 40 is clamped upon the cross bar 8 and the compartment 7 below the wringer is connected by means of an opening 66 to the tub to permit the return of the water wrung from the clothes.

I have found in practice that my invention is extremely effective and that it thoroughly cleanses the clothes, that it is simple, does not readily get out of order and that the steam and hot water does not escape from the tub. Furthermore it is obvious that immediately upon the raising of the lid, the wringer will be connected to the driving mechanism so that it may be immediately used and this renders it possible to do a larger amount of work with this machine than where it is necessary to either manually connect the wringing mechanism with the motor or operate the wrin ing mecha nism by hand. It will be noted that'the shifting of the wringing machanism into engagement with the motor is entirely automatic. There is no gearing to prevent ready access to the clothes when the lid is raised and no gearing with which the clothes can ordinarily come in contact. By my construction the greater part of the actuating mechanism is mounted upon the lid itself so that it is entirely turned'out of the way when the lid is raised. What I claim is:

1. A machine of the character describedincluding a stationary support, a member hmged to the support, mechanism mounted upon the hinged member and movable there- 'with toward and from the stationary sup:

port, a shaft mountedon the stationary support, driving mechanism for the last named shaft and for the mechanism mounted upon the hinged member, and means whereby the;

driving mechanism may be disconnected from the mechanism on the hinged member and connected to said shaft by the lifting of the hinged member and disconnected from theshaft but connected with the mechanism on the hinged member by the lowering of the hinged member. w

2. A machine of the character described including a stationary support, a member hinged thereto, driven mechanism support-;

the driving mechanism, and means carried by the hinged member for shifting the pulley out of operative engagement with the shaft when the hinged member is lowered and into operative engagement therewith when the hinged member is raised.

3. In a machine of the character dehinged thereto, driven mechanism carried by the hinged member, a motor, a driven shaft mounted upon the stationary support, driven mechanism for the mechanism carried on the hinged member and operatively connected thereto when the hinged member is closed against the stationary support, a pulley operatively connected to said shaft and o-peratively connected to the driving mechanism, clutch members, one of which is connected to the shaftand the other of which is connected to the pulley, and a cam 'carried by the hinged member and disengaging the clutch members when the hinged member is lowered but permitting the engagement of the clutch members when the hinged member is raised.

4:. In a machine of the character described, a stationary support, a member hinged thereto, driven mechanism carried by said hinged member, 'a gear wheel mounted upon the hinged member and operatively connected to the driven mechanism, a shaft mounted upon the stationary support, a

spur pinion on the shaft engageable with V the gear wheel on the hinged member when the latter is closed but disengageable therefrom when the hinged member is moved away from the stationary support, a'motor, means for actuating the' shaft from the motor, a driven shaft mounted on the stationary support, a sleeve on the shaft, a pulley carried by the sleeve, clutch members, one

slidable with said sleeve and the other fixed to the shaft, a spring normally holding the clutch members in engagement, a connection between the first named shaft and the said pulley, and means carried by the free end of the hinged member engaging said sleeve when the hinged member is lowered toward the stationary member to force the clutch members out of engagement with each other but, when the hinged member is raised, permitting the clutch members to be forced into engagement with each other.

5. In a machine of the character described, a support, a transverse shaft supported thereon, a rocker arm mounted on the shaft, means connected to one end of the transverse shaft for oscillating the same, a motor detachably connected to said oscillating means, and a detachable handle operatively connected to the other end of the shaft.

6. A machine of the character described carried upon said member,

including a stationary support, a member hinged to the same, a transverse rock shaft a gear wheel mounted upon the member, an operative connection between the gear wheel and the transverse shaft whereby oscillating motion may be transmitted to the transverseshaft, a gear wheel mounted upon the stationary support and engageable' by the first named gear wheel when the hinged member is moved into a predetermined relation to the stationary support, and drivmg means for said second named gear wheel.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN I. WOODRUFF. Witnesses: I

A. M. G. KEERGER,

IRA A. SGHOGH. 

